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Archive for January, 2011

Hitched was this weekend in Palm Springs. It was super cute and lots of fun, but it meant that the entire week was full of frantic snipping and tying and styling for Amanda and me. And driving. Lots of driving. But there was dancing too, which made it totally worth it.

pretty succulents for our table

pickled jalepeños

painting our biz cards

And a little peek of our table. I am a crazy person and spent all last week embroidering the sampler. WAY underestimated how long that would take.

Also, I finally got to meet Jamie and Elizabeth in person. That was awesome. And thanks so much for saying hi Courtney! Your little girl is so cute.

I cannot believe my tiny baby is less than one month from his first birthday. And while there have been many times when I’ve thought, “Well he can’t possibly get any cuter. Please don’t ever get older!” He’s cuter, people. Just like everyone who’s already had kids will tell you.

This time next month (roughly), we’ll be celebrating his first birthday on the beach in Costa Rica. Cold Imperials and fried plantains and everything. He’ll probably need a crown of some sort.

This might be kind of a random post. But I’m betting that there are at least a few of you out there who will be kind of excited about it, just as I was when I figured this out. Which I can’t take any credit for, btw. Years ago I was visiting my friend Laura’s farm in Athens, GA and while we were prepping the harvest for their CSA pickup, I learned this little trick.

This works for any type of greens: lettuces, kale, arugula, etc.

Fill your sink with cold water.
Dump greens into sink.
Swish them around a bit.
Let sit for, I don’t know, 15 minutes? Or longer.
Scoop the greens out of the sink and into a colander.

Behold: the sink bottom is now covered in dirt and your greens are squeaky clean.

When I saw this in action, (using like 1 ton of freshly picked arugula and a large vintage bathtub), I had a major “Ohhhhhhhhh” moment. As in, “So that’s how you do it!” And I’ve never looked back. It works like a charm and I haven’t ground a tooth against a granule of dirt in my salad since.

Some of you probably already do this and are like, um, yeah, DUH. But I bet there are others who are stuck trying to rinse their lettuces by hand, like I was. Try it!

As a fun little addition to Jen’s shower, we had everyone bring a recipe for their favorite cocktail. Twas a cocktail party, after all! So we got her a pretty recipe box to store them. I initially wanted to find a super cute vintage recipe box, and while I did find some really cute ones, they weren’t modern or cocktail-y at all. (Big surprise!).

But I did find this really really pretty Acacia Wood Recipe Box on Amazon, that for the price, is seriously amazing.

I love love love my Rifle box, but you guys, this one is a close second. The wood is really pretty, it’s all dove-tailed and looks really well made. And um, it’s only $30.

Doesn’t everyone want their baby to be clothed and shod and surrounded by vintage french things? Elizabeth posted Little Vintage last week and I just about lost my mind on Friday morning trolling through their wares. I need to have a semi-midcentury vintage french nursery next time around!!!

Oh yeah! It was my first birthday present and (of course) my mom kept it. Dashiell plays with it at my parents’ house now. And we just found this set of vintage tinker toys at my grandparents’ house a few weeks ago. Also have those stashed away for later.

For my dear dear friend Jen – the lovely lady getting married in Costa Rica. Her sis threw her a cocktail party bridal shower on Saturday eve and I offered to make invites and poofs.

I’m not sure how things got so pink. I sort of lost control at paper source and ended up with fuchsia envelopes and everything spiraled from there. Bridal showers are supposed to be pink, are they not?

And of course had to make the beet and fried chickpea salad from Lucques for the party. It’s sooooo good. Melanie is most definitely going to post the recipe. Promise. She’s just a little swamped with moving at the moment. It will be worth the wait.

So amid all the crazy work and social/family obligations I have going on, we’re also attempting to prepare for our trip to Costa Rica next month. Which means, obviously, expediting passports because instead of sending away for them in September like I’d planned to, I have yet to fill out an application. But we did get photos taken yesterday.

Is there anything cuter than a baby passport!?!

And mine is no longer valid since I’ve changed my name. Even though my current one has only been used one time. Mildly irritating, don’t you think?

Plus I’m attempting to plan someone’s first birthday party. Okay, I’m considering attempting to plan the first birthday party, for the weekend after we get back from our trip. Would I be a terrible mother if we just celebrated his birthday in Costa Rica with some cold beers and a dip in the ocean?

Which makes them satisfy all sorts of good nutritional needs: whole grain, omega 3s, protein, etc. We eat them for breakfast too, with loads of butter and syrup of course. But Dashiell eats them any time. I made a bunch on the weekend and kept a few in the refrigerator for the week, plus froze half of the batter for later. They are the perfect finger food. Highly recommend.